Monogatari:
In the autumn of the Qing Dynasty, the exhibition "To the Xuan | Chinese Ceramics Black and White" opened in Guangzhou Kuma Store.
The exhibition is on an old street, outside the door, and there is a rush of fireworks. Inside the door, dozens of pieces of high-grade ancient porcelain from Tang to Jin, or Xuan Black, or Plain White, are quietly located here. Time seemed to stand still, and it was rubbed into these two porcelain colors that were extreme and extreme.
On the occasion of the launch, the Wudao team chatted with curator Ji Shaowen (Cat Brother) and discussed the black and white aesthetics of Chinese ceramics.
Moon white, sweet white, azure blue, shadow blue, carmine, goose yellow, fog blue, ugin, ink color...
The name of this graceful woman comes from the glaze color of ceramics. They are dyed into color and blended, which is the picturesque scenery of Chinese ceramics.
Ma Weidu said: "In ceramics, glaze color and ornamentation are the two major techniques of decoration. ”
But the glaze color is more abstract and mysterious. White, blue, yellow, green, red, blue, sauce, black glaze, for thousands of years, the ancients have continuously pursued that kind of pure beauty.
White is the starting point of all colors. Black is the end of all colors.
Between black and white, it is the peak of Chinese porcelain color.
White is the earliest pursuit of porcelain color by the ancients.
As early as Northern Qi, the ancients had burned the earliest white porcelain. But at that time, there were still some traces of flashing blue or yellow. Because the ceramic tire soil contains iron elements, all are cyan, and only when the iron elements are reduced to less than 1%, will they appear white.
The process of pursuing white glaze is actually the process of refining iron. Behind the beauty, it is often the countless repeated trials and deliberations of the skill.
In the Tang Dynasty, as soon as the Xing kiln came out, it was famous all over the world. Cha Sheng Lu Yu said that it was "like silver snow". At that time, the best Xing kilns were engraved with the word "Ying", which means "Hundred Treasures Great Yingku", which was the private collection of Emperor Tang Ming, and was only awarded to the most beloved Yang Guifei and the most trusted courtiers. Just like this jade wall bottom bowl, there is also the sound of gold and stone.
Tang Dynasty Xing kiln white glazed jade bottom bowl
Tang Dynasty Ding kiln white glaze official character bowl
Tang Dynasty Xing kiln white glaze printed horn four square plate
However, in the Song Dynasty's Ding kiln, compared to the beauty of the Xing kiln, the Song people no longer pursued how white, because the craftsmanship technology at that time allowed them to be calm and idle. So people spend energy on decoration, such as gold inlaid mouth, knife engraving pattern, etc., but also affected The Liaoding and Jinding. For example, on the white plate, the grass pattern and the lotus pattern are engraved.
Northern Song Dynasty Ding kiln white glaze jewel button holding pot
Jin Dynasty kiln white glaze engraved flower grass pattern folding plate
Many years later, the ancients also burned out sweet white glaze and Dehua white porcelain, which was extremely white.
This may be the romance of the ancients. White, not a series of parameters, but falling snow, clouds in the sky, crystal sugar, is the tireless efforts of human beings for the beauty of nature.
Jin Dynasty Huozhou kiln white glazed jade pot spring bottle
Black is a mysterious existence in the ceramic world.
Since the beginning of the Deqing black glaze, black has always existed in the Chinese ceramic territory. When it is not taken seriously, it is hidden behind the background. When it is discovered, it is not in a hurry.
The Song Dynasty people drank some tea, so Jianzhan was highly respected. Cai Xiang wrote in the "Tea Record": "The tea color is white, it is advisable to blacken, the creator of Jian'an is black, the pattern is like a rabbit, its billet is slightly thick, and it is hot and cold for a long time, and it is most important to use." Those who come from other places, either thin or purple, are not as good as they are. ”
Like this Jin Dynasty Huairen kiln silver oil drops bundle mouth tea cup, it is introverted and simple, if you apply tea soup, you can see the cyanotic black cup heart, silver oil droplets like sparkling, like the vast stars.
Jin Dynasty Huairen kiln silver oil drops small cup
The black of the Jizhou kiln is "colorful black". Through natural black paint, people apply unique techniques, resulting in a rich and varied glaze and pattern, such as sprinkling glaze, paper cut decal, wood leaf decal and so on.
Like this Southern Song Dynasty black-glazed sprinkler bowl and black-glazed sprinkler jar, it is hidden in the North American Ten Mile Lingbi Mountain Residence. Above the black glaze, there are circles of yellow flares, which seem to be disorganized, but they are like wandering pen and ink, free and free, which is similar to the works of contemporary artist Pollock. Perhaps, beauty is regardless of the era and region.
The formation of sprinkled glaze is to first apply a glaze with higher iron content, and then sprinkle a glaze with a lighter color, under the various factors of the heating process, the iron content of the glaze, and the method of using color, a kaleidoscopic beauty is formed.
Southern Song Dynasty Jizhou kiln black glaze sprinkled large bowl
Southern Song Dynasty Jizhou kiln black glaze sprinkler jar
Among the exhibits this time, there is also an eel skin leaking flower bulb from the Southern Song Dynasty Jizhou kiln. The flower is considered to be a sacred flower in Buddhism, also known as "Zen Guest" and "Zen Friend", which is also known as gardenia today.
This cup adopts a paper-cut appliqué process, first on the bottom glaze with a high iron content, paste paper cuts, and then apply a thin layer of bamboo ash glaze, and finally remove the paper cut, it will show the pattern.
Gently holding this cup, there is a warm sand texture. Above the light brown tire guard glaze are "blooming" six-petaled flowers. Millennia of time flies, still blossoming undefeated.
Southern Song Dynasty Jizhou kiln eel skin floor drain flower bulb
Like the beauty of black glaze, no matter how times change, it will always be the same.
Black, not a color, is the end of the universe, is the depth of the galaxy, is the boldness and wantonness after the Fa.
However, in the long years, black glaze and white glaze are not opposites. They are two extremes, but they often intersect with each other and become new.
For example, the Tang Dynasty's silk porcelain, with black glaze on the outside and a white bowl on the inside, is silent and quiet. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, monks often wore Zi color clothes, while the laypeople in ancient India wore plain clothes, which means black and white.
Tang Dynasty Gongxian kiln outside the black and white glazed Zisu porcelain bowl
There is also the white-clad wheel bucket cup of the Jin Dynasty Dangyangyu kiln. The inside is black, the outside is white, and the white cover wheel is the meaning of the trim.
The technique of the white clad wheel is quite complicated. One is to apply a black glaze first, then scrape the black glaze along the inside and outside, and then add a mixture of white makeup clay and transparent glaze and burn it at high temperature. The second is to apply a black glaze first, scrape off the inner and outer black glaze, and then enter the kiln to fire at high temperature, but the white glaze at the mouth edge is a low-temperature re-fired finished product.
Like this tea cup, the glaze is neat, clean and neat, when it is a one-time firing.
In the dance of black and white, the Northern Song Dynasty Cizhou kiln white glaze carved flowers tangled branches and pattern phoenix tails, showing grace and luxury. White is the bottom, ink is the flower, the branches and leaves spread up, and the peony blossoms are bloomed.
But this black flower process on a white background is not as simple as painting flowers. The craftsman needs to add a layer of white makeup soil on top of the plain tire, then apply a black glaze, then remove the carved flowers, and finally apply a layer of transparent glaze to form.
White plus black is an addition. Black into flowers, but subtraction.
Northern Song Dynasty Cizhou kiln white ground black flower phoenix tail zun
The black glazed line jar of the Zibo kiln of the Jin Dynasty has more modern design beauty. On top of the lustrous black glaze, there are evenly protruding white lines, like the pen center in calligraphy, which has a strong sense of three-dimensionality.
This is called the asphalt method. First apply lacquer on the tire, and then add ornamentation, after drying, or in the form of white mud with leaking powder strips, the powder is formed into a bar; or pile up the mud strips, apply a transparent glaze or black glaze, when fired in the kiln, the black glaze will melt to a low place, exposing the white strips, thus forming a raised line to achieve a realistic effect.
Looking at this black glazed line jar, white and black look clearly distinguished, but because of the fusion, they have become here. Did the ancients want black and white from the beginning, or did they just inadvertently add more powder?
Jin Dynasty Zibo kiln black glazed line jar
When creating artifacts, it may often be the accident of beauty. But on the road to the pursuit and extension of beauty, what is needed is the tension of beauty.
Black and white are the two ends of color, the two extremes of beauty, looking contradictory and distant.
Zhang Zai said: "China's yin and yang are both simultaneous and not tired. "The tension of beauty will be born when the seemingly contradictory two can be inclusive, unified, and blended."
Perhaps, this is the charm of Chinese ceramics black and white.
In life, there are too many difficult to complete. Only in this ceramic world, black and white, the world can be both. Such beauty is rare and precious.
The text is original, and the pictures are provided by kuma Life,
Please contact the author for reproduction.